The mayor answered questions from the media yesterday about the no blankets for the homeless ordinance. His response was essentially, No one is taking blankets away from the homeless, and all shelters are open. But one big problem with that response is, no one is accusing anyone of taking away their blankets, nor does the ordinance give them the power to confiscate the blankets, and Im pretty sure that would be a violation of the illegal search and seizure clause in the constitution. Here are the actual issues: During the short hearing process on these ordinances, no one showed up in support of them. However, hundreds of people from all walks of life showed up to oppose them, but the council passed them anyway. Not a very representative local government. Also, the discussion was continually stifled by then council president Sam Hall, who repeatedly stopped people from discussing their points and kicked people out of the meetings. The major issue with the ordinance, is its prohibition of using any form of covering as stated in sections i-iii. This clause, which would include blankets or even newspapers, is most problematic. This extends to all public and private land and could be used at any time, on any citizen, even someone taking a little nap in the park on a lunch break, or someone using a newspaper to cover their head in the rain (all of these points were brought up at the meeting by council members and clarified by the city legal staff). As I stated before, the fear is not that they are taking the blankets away. Instead, the fear is that the homeless will be arrested for a basic human function. It has been made illegal for the homeless to sleep at all in public, and use any items to cover themselves (or anyone that is not homeless for that matter... but lets be honest about who this will effect). The Mayors argument of there are shelters doesnt pass the smell test either, because there is not enough shelter for everyone who is homeless in Pensacola, and that is just plain numbers. Even if there were enough beds, which there are not, not all people qualify to stay at these shelters. Most require a government ID or have other prohibitions. Also, there are health issues that prevent people from using the shelters such as PTSD or if they are on any form of medication, as it is prohibited to bring medication into the shelters. Not to mention, that the Waterfront Mission only allows for three nights a month unless you are in the program. The only way you can get into the program is if you have a substance abuse problem AND are willing to go through a Christian indoctrination program to fix that problem. So, if you are a clean and sober person who is down on your luck and living on the streets, you only have three days a month to have somewhere to stay, and the rest of the days you can either a.) get addicted to meth and enter a program or b.) fear arrest for sleeping. In other words these ordinances have effectively made it illegal to be homeless. I am sorry, but this is not a trite issue and it isnt, much ado about nothing. This is a real issue, and the people it is hurting are 44% veterans, just for the record.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 16:26:00 +0000