In article ,
says...

On Monday, February 10, 2014 5:39:43 AM UTC-6, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 2/9/14, 11:44 PM, wrote:

On Sun, 09 Feb 2014 18:42:06 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:



On 2/9/14, 11:16 AM, wrote:

On Sun, 09 Feb 2014 08:56:31 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:



...but Florida and Texas seem to have developed them into an art form.



http://tinyurl.com/kjg5jq3



In Pensacola, it is illegal for a homeless person to try to stay warm

under a blanket.



I doubt you would put up with a bunch of bums living next to your

house.





I think the actions of the Pensacola city council in terms of the

anti-homeless ordinances they passed go far beyond trying to prevent

homeless people from sleeping under a blanket next to someone's house.



From the article:



"One man, formerly homeless, described his circumstances and reminded

Coucil members that most of us are just one paycheck away from

homelessness, and that oftentimes we cannot understand or empathize

unless we have personally experienced something. He continued, that

sometimes God will humble us, and put us in a situation where we

experience such things, seeming to suggest that if they voted for these

ordinances, that perhaps (one day) God may just allow them to experience it.



Other homeless people also spoke, explaining how they became homeless.

One woman explained that she had four back surgeries and a neck surgery

in a year's time, and therefore could not work and had to resort to

living out of her car. Another young man, 22, described his situation,

working long hours, but not making enough to afford a home. He lives in

his car and told the Council, he's doing the best he can, explaining

that he works hard and he has to clean up and look presentable as best

as he can. He noted that it's hard when you live in a car and reiterated

that he's not a criminal and asked the Council not to make him one.

Another woman described fleeing an abusive relationship, taking her

children and having to live in their car because she didn't qualify for

any sort of aid or financial assistance. The point was also made by

several people that 1/3 of the homeless are veterans, and someone

commented that by criminalizing them, the Council's praise for veterans'

service earlier in the evening seemed hypocritical.



The point was also raised that, according to one ordinance (prohibiting

the use of blankets, sleeping bags, newspaper, tents or cardboard to

sleep with), during the cold winter nights, the homeless will be forced

to decide whether to commit a "crime" and be arrested or to cover

themselves or their children for warmth. Mike Kimberl told the Council,

that when people start dying by freezing to death, he will personally

hold every Council member that voted for the ordinance(s) responsible.



It was an emotional night,but in the end the Council approved the

ordinances."





I wonder what the city fathers of that place will do the next time a

hurricane makes a few hundred residents homeless.



They just don't want their town to be a place overrun with bums.

I guarantee you, if it was happening in North Beach, they would run

them off citing this law (You may not camp or sleep overnight on

beach, pier, boardwalk, park, parking lot, etc.) and I am sure they

have that same basic law virtually everywhere that people with money

live.





So, your solution is to just leave them out there blanketless, so they

can die of exposure?

So what's your solution, Harry? Why don't you invite them to your place? That'd be a great humanitarian deed on your behalf!

That would require Harry to dip into his own pocket to fund the endeavor rather than stick
his hands into others pockets to fund the endeavor.