Gainesville punishes the hungry

GAINESVILLE, Fla.--Dozens of residents rallied outside of City Hall October 21 to confront Mayor Craig Lowe and city commissioners about Gainesville's 130 meal-limit ordinance against the homeless and hungry.

According to the ordinance, only 130 people can be fed at any one public feeding location. The ordinance is designed to disperse the homeless across the city, and, especially, away from the downtown area where many shops and restaurants are located.

This ordinance is in effect thanks to the lobbying of businesses downtown like the Hampton Inn and Harry's restaurant, which would prefer the homeless problem to be out of sight and out of mind.

However, in a city where there are 700 homeless children alone, this ordinance turns hundreds way who don't have the means to travel to other locations (most of which are located on the outskirts of the city).

In their campaign to demonize the homeless and perpetuate the disgusting notion of a "culture of poverty," the mayor and city commissioners seek to characterize the entire homeless community as drug-addicted, violent panhandlers putting public safety at risk.

In reality, they and the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) give millions of dollars to businesses in an effort to create a space of privilege downtown, not a community-friendly area. They have capped public water fountains, put time limits on public bathrooms and turned public parks into gated dog parks as part of their ongoing attack against the homeless, working poor and hungry.

Members of the Gainesville chapter of the International Socialist Organization worked in conjunction with the National Coalition for the Homeless and local homeless advocate Pat Fitzpatrick in calling the rally. Gainesville citizens gathered around the front steps of City Hall to send the message that "enough is enough" and this meal-limit ordinance needs to be repealed immediately.

Speakers told the crowd that this is an issue that needs momentum to pressure City Hall to repeal the ordinance.

After the rally, dozens of residents filed in to the city commissioners' meeting for a "citizen's comment" section to voice their opinions directly to local officials and demand the ordinance be repealed immediately.

Red-faced and noticeably uncomfortable, city council members listened to complaints and watched a two-minute video of a pregnant woman being denied food, along with volunteers local homeless shelter St. Francis House describing how much they wanted to feed her but couldn't--because of the fear of losing their permit.

Citizens called the politicians "cowards" and shamed them for catering to business owners above the needs of the people. One participant even called out a city commissioner directly for not bothering to look up from his laptop to listen to the comments.

Homelessness is under an increasing attack by local governments like those in Gainesville--but activists are vowing to continue to stand up against this attack on fellow members of our community.