darth_tiktaalik'A huge win': Judge orders Houston to stop ticketing 'Food Not Bombs' for feeding homeless downtown
RestrictedAccountBunch of libertarian Christians who say that you can do whatever you want unless it’s help the poor.
They’re not Christians.
They’re sycophants.
Jesus didn’t teach any of the shit these accidents come up with and that’s going off of the current edit of the religious text.
They should be renamed Anti-Christs.
Mayor Whitmire is committed to working together to resolve differences and agree upon an ordinance that allows expression and provides a safe and healthy environment at the central library and elsewhere for the homeless and their neighbors
Nothing says "I want to make a healthy and safe environment" like ticketing volunteers giving out food.
This issue is more nuanced than the city flat out saying they can’t feed the homeless. They said they can’t do it in front of the public library. The city has a designated spot to hand out food, the charity was told this, but still did it at the library in protest.
Both sides have valid points. The charity has a right to distribute food, but the rest of the population also has the right to safely use public facilities.
the rest of the population also has the right to safely use public facilities.
TIL not having a mortgage automatically makes you a violent criminal
This doesn’t have anything to do with being poor.
A not insignificant portion of the homeless are drug addicts, severely mentally ill, or both. These people can be dangerous. Not having them congregate in very public areas is a public safety issue. Full stop.
Pretending that every homeless person is just homeless because of financial issues is disingenuous.
Homelessness is an extremely complex issue, and using absolute statements like that shows you don’t understand the issue at all.
P.S. Inever once said that they shouldn’t be taken care of, but there has to be a balance between care and public safety.
A not insignificant portion of the homeless are drug addicts, severely mentally ill, or both. These people can be dangerous. Not having them congregate in very public areas is a public safety issue. Full stop.
A not insignificant portion of the most vulnerable among us are drug addicts, severely mentally ill, or both. These people can be dangerous due to not receiving treatment according to their and the public's health needs. Not having them ( "a not insignificant...untreated...portion of the homeless") congregate in areas made for the public is a human rights issue.
People can be vulnerable and still be a threat to public safety. The two absolutely aren’t mutually exclusive.
You’re conveniently ignoring the part where I said there needs to be a balance between the two, as well as the part where the city has already provided them a location to operate.
The entire system needs a major overhaul to address the root cause of homelessness, but until that happens the city has an obligation to keep the public safe.
Crime comitted: poor in front of library
You clearly haven’t been around a bunch of homeless people. It’s not a super safe place to be.
Like I said, it’s a nuanced issue, but it seems you lack the capacity for it.
Rom [he/him]Homeless people: Just trying to get some food so they can survive.
Cops: Doing every bullshit thing they can do to prevent homeless people from getting food.
You, the true understander of everythhing: It’s the homeless people who are the real bad guys.
You clearly didn’t read my first comment.
You clearly didn’t stop to think that the reason they made those shitty little ordinances in the first place was to stop people like FNB from highlighting the city of Houston’s embarrassing failure to take care of their own people.
This isn’t a “both sides have valid points” issue. One side is unquestionably in the wrong here, and in this case it’s the city who keeps throwing up arbitrary roadblocks against people who are just trying to feed the hungry.
Alaskaball [comrade/them, any]You clearly haven’t been around a bunch of homeless people. It’s not a super safe place to be.
I have. I’ve had more guns stuck in my face by suburbanite psychopaths than I’ve had homeless people try to rob or attack me.
I used to live across the street from an organization that handed out food every Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday morning we would wake up to trash everywhere. The street and sidewalk in front of our house would be covered in styrofoam boxes, bags, utensils, napkins, and food scraps. Roaches and rats had their own free meals every Wednesday night.
Most people were there to get food. Some people were there to get food and sell drugs, and it pretty much ended up as an open-air drug market buffet.
It’s easy to sit back in a clean house in a clean neighborhood and yell across the fence that they should feed the homeless wherever they want. It’s another thing entirely to have to live and work next to these events.
The city has clearly told these guys you can hand out food in designated areas, and they are not doing so. It’s a publicity stunt as much as it is a feeding program.
So instead of being allowed to hand out food anywhere in the city, they should be limited to a handful of specific locations? Isn’t that the exact problem you’re describing near your home?
Yes, that’s how cities typically work. Permits and zoning are a thing, so you can’t just do whatever you want wherever you want.
NatakuNoxYa in a world where poor people are only there because of their actions… And not reality where we have a system that cast people aside if they are only productive in a very specific way. That’s also not counting all the purposeful pitfalls designed to prevent people from living their best lives.
Finally. These people are doing good work. The city doesn’t want homeless people so they made it illegal to give them food. This group went out repeatedly and violated the ordinance. True heroes.