GOP Senate Hopeful: "Less Than 2,000" Women Sued My Company For Pay Discrimination Oh, well in that case… —Molly Redden
What an entirely contrived fake election issue. If David Perdue, the Republican nominee for Senate in Georgia, had directly committed sexual harassment then I could see they have a case. A class action suit driven by a union that was dismissed in court - not some much.
Let's hear it for Florida . . . Chef, 90, faces jail, fines for feeding the homeless By Zachary Fagenson Arnold P. Abbott, president of the Maureen A. Abbott Love Thy Neighbor Fund, Inc. MIAMI (Reuters) - For decades, 90-year-old Arnold Abbott has hauled pans filled with roast chicken and cheese-covered potatoes onto a south Florida beach park to feed hundreds of homeless people. For his good deeds, Abbott finds himself facing up to two months in jail and hundreds of dollars in fines after new laws that restrict public feeding of the homeless went into effect in Fort Lauderdale earlier this year. “I’ve been fighting for the underdog all my life, so this is nothing new,” Abbott said. He was first cited last Sunday, along with two clergymen and a volunteer from his nonprofit, Love Thy Neighbor. On Wednesday, several police cars waited for Abbott at a downtown Fort Lauderdale park, and officers pulled aside the frail man, clad in a white chef’s coat, soon after the first plates were ready to be served. “The ordinance does not prohibit feeding the homeless; it regulates the activity in order to ensure it is carried out in an appropriate, organized, clean and healthy manner,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor John P. Seiler said in a statement. Abbott moved to Florida from Massachusetts in 1970 and was a civil rights activist and wholesale jewelry salesman. He and his wife first began feeding the homeless on their own in 1979. He started the foundation and feeding full time in 1991 after his wife died, in a tribute to her memory. The dispute highlights a debate between two schools of homeless rights activists: Those who argue that banning public feeding criminalizes the homeless, and others who say feeding and panhandling helps keep them on the street. Since January 2013, 21 cities across the country have passed laws restricting public feedings and 10 more have similar rules under consideration, according to an October report from the National Coalition to the Homeless. Nationwide, at least 57 cities have limited or banned public feeding. "One of the reasons these kinds of ordinances are being embraced is that this is what cities can do without spending money,” said Jerry Jones, the coalition’s executive director. A widely agreed-upon solution - giving the longtime homeless beds as they work their way into treatment programs - is too costly for many municipalities that struggle with homelessness. But advocates for the homeless say that ignores the costs of not addressing the issue in a compassionate way. “What’s the cost if somebody presents themselves five times annually to an emergency room?” asked Ron Book, a high-profile Florida lobbyist who chairs Miami-Dade County’s Homeless Trust with a tax-backed, $55 million budget.
I know these laws restricting feeding of the "homeless" sound harsh, but in reality they reflect not only sound policy but the views of experts on alleviating homelessness. Random feeding or feeding in inappropriate venues, eg downtown parks, creates more problems than it solves, other than making a few do gooders feel even better about themselves. First, it is unfair for people in a city to have their parks commandeered by vagrants, crazy people, et al. Feeding prgrams are a magnet to draw them to locations where there are no services, but where they are a nuisance and danger to themselves and others. Feeding programs set up in approved locations where there is adequate security and usually ancillary service for the homeless make more sense. They are designed to deal with the underlying problem, not just give them a meal and let them sleep on a grate. I am aware of a program in one florida city that brought in a nationally known consultant to deal with a growing homeless population. This was exactly what he prescribed. I respect the religious obligation to help the poor. Like other constitutional rights however, it is subject to restrictions on time and place. This 90 year old guy is nothing but a troublemaker and grandstander who arrogantly wants to undermine the city's program for the homeless.