SUPPORT THE RIGHT TO FEED THE HUNGRY
AND WORK FOR PEACE
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West Palm Beach Food Not Bombs Under Attack!
Protests in Fort Lauderdale stopped the city from shutting down Food Not Bombs. Now the West Palm Beach government is trying to ban sharing meals with the hungry
Meal program for homeless faces ban
Feeding homeless people in parts of downtown is about to become illegal.
Mayor Lois Frankel and city commissioners passed a measure Monday banning food handouts after an impassioned debate that packed the commission chambers.
The measure brought full-throated cries that city leaders were being discriminatory and heartless, countered by pleas from downtown residents and businesses that some organized food distribution programs have led to crime and panhandling.
Commissioners Molly Douglas and Bill Moss voted for it, Commissioners Kimberly Mitchell and Ike Robinson voted against, and Mayor Lois Frankel voted for it and broke the tie. Commissioner Jeri Muoio was absent.
"How in good conscience can we allow a segment of our community to take the burden of this?" Frankel said.
The measure bans handing out food free or at a nominal charge to anyone - not just homeless people, although that's what prompted the ordinance - in the fountain area, the library property and the Meyer Amphitheatre, saying it conflicts with events at those places.
The measure won't take effect for 30 days, instead of the usual 10, in response to Mitchell and Robinson's request for a 30-day delay of the vote itself.
Before the meeting, about 50 people marched along Clematis Street and made a few laps around city hall, chanting, "City council ain't my boss! They can't say what a meal should cost!"
Olga Smith - who runs Art and Compassion Inc., which gives out food next to the fountain on Wednesday nights - said homeless people naturally gather there, making it a logical place for her program.
"We came here because they were here," she said. "They were here first."
"Do people of poverty have the same rights of association as any other person?" said Alan Clapsaddle, pastor of Westgate Tabernacle Church, which lets homeless people sleep at the church. "We're criminalizing people helping people. It just doesn't make sense."
John Pauly, chairman of the Palm Beach County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the measure raises constitutional concerns, including religious freedoms and freedom to assemble.
United Way official Daniel Gibson asked for a delay to give the city and the groups time to hash things out.
Orlando Food Not Bombs was arrested
International Call for Solidarity : Lake Eola Ladle Fest!
A volunteer with Orlando Food Not Bombs was arrested April 4, 2007 for sharing more than 25 people vegan food. Food Not Bombs volunteer Eric Montanez will go to rial starting October 8, 2007
Undercover officers filmed the food line, meticulously counting Montanez serving 30 unidentified persons food from a large pot utilizing a ladle,according to an arrest affidavit.
Food Not Bombs volunteer Eric Montanez, 21, was arrested Wednesday, April 4th for feeding the hungry in Orlando, Florida in the United States. This past July the cities of Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada passed laws making it illegal to feed the hungry. West Palm Beach, Florida is also trying to ban the sharing of free meals with the hungry. Other cities also tried to ban Food Not Bombs but their efforts failed. The Fort Lauderdale city government said it would ban Food Not Bombs but after we organized the community they agreed to let us continue our work. The City of San Francisco made over 1,000 arrests starting on August 15, 1988 but after the taxpayers spent over a million dollars and failed to stop the group the city gave up and let Food Not Bombs continue with it's work. When the public saw you could get arrested for feeding the hungry people from all over the world called and wote San Francisco Food Not Bombs to see how they could start a local chapter. Today there are Food Not Bombs groups in hundreds of cities all over the world. (www.foodnotbombs.net/contact.html)
ORLANDO FLORIDA October 8-10th
International Call for Solidarity : Lake Eola Ladle Fest!
On April 4th, Eric Montanez became the first Food Not Bombs member in Orlando arrested under the City's anti-homeless food sharing ordinance. That measure, aimed at Orlando FNB and other groups that help hungry and homeless people, bans unpermitted food sharings of more than 25 people in more than three diozen downtown parks. Groups only are allowed two one-time permits per per park in a 12-month period. Eric's trial starts Mon., Oct. 8. In addition, five other FNB comrades arrested under a City noise ordinance while drumming outside a fund-raising event for Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer have a pre-trial hearing on Oct. 10.
Eric is, of course, one of hundreds of Food Not Bombs members arrested over our movement's more than 25-year history for the "crime" of sharing food with the hungry and homeless and directly challenging the poverty and inequality that make FNB necessary. His trial will set a precedent that
will affect FNB and other anti-poverty groups throughout the country; so what happens to Eric and
Orlando Food Not Bombs should be of concern to all of us. Cities and developers around the country are keeping a watchful eye on Orlando to see what they may be able to get away with. The City and business interests need to know that we will not let them take away our rights and tighten the
screws on the poor and homeless through gentrification and criminalizing homelessness. To put pressure on the City, we will hold Lake Eola Ladle Fest--a three-day event in the park in the very spot where Eric was arrested on April 4 by more than a dozen uniformed and undercover Orlando
police.
From Oct. 8-10, we would like FNB members from around the country to stand in solidarity with Eric, OFNB, and the local poor and homeless by helping us share breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and also holding various events and workshops throughout the day. We hope to attract as many of
our community's homeless and low-income residents, and supporters from around the country, as possible. We also as a group will walk to the courthouse each morning and we encourage people to show support for Eric by attending his trial. The third day we will hold "The March of Mimes" in support of the Cruddy Dyer-rhea Drum Corps 5--Ryan Hutchinson, Bryan Jones, Brett Mason, Eric, and Will Vertlieb and also free speech rights.
We here in Orlando we can provide some sleeping space. People are encouraged to bring items such as canned goods, fresh veggies and prepackaged snacks to donate. Also there will be a really really free market that will be available for the homeless and low income residents, so brings things to donate to that, too.
The Lake Eola Ladle Fest begins on the morning of October 8 in the park's picnic area which is located at the corner of Central and Osceola in downtown Orlando. If you are coming the night
before or have any questions, e-mail us at orlandofnb@orlandofoodnotbombs.org and we'll try to find you a place to stay at our collective house(s).
lake-eolaladlefest.info
Arrest is first under homeless-feeding law/ Orlando Sentinel
One day after Las Vegas officials close Huntridge Circle Park, four people jailed
Learn more about the Food Not Bombs Activists that were jailed in the Philippines
Orlando and Las Vegas outlawed food distribution this July 2006 and several other groups in North America are having problems with city governments. This September the West Palm Beach Food Not Bombs was ordered to end their work. At the end of August, Birmingham, Alabama Food Not Bombs was told by the police that they would be "terminated." In October Denver, Colorado told several groups including Food Not Bombs that they had to stop sharing food at the Civic Center and Houston Food Not Bombs was told they would be arrested if they didn't stop feeding the hungry. Attacks against Food Not Bombs are not limited to the United States. Eleven Filipino backpackers were arrested on February 14, 2006 while they were on their way to hike at Sagada in Benguet and they were accused of terrorism. Nine of those arrested volunteer with Food Not Bombs in the Philippines and their friends and have asked the international Food Not Bombs movement to join them in working the release of the Sagada 11. With the help of groups like Amnesty International our volunteers were finally freed.
Food Not Bombs groups and the homeless they feed are also having trouble with local authorities in several cities in North America. Along with the Denver and Houston groups Food Not Bombs chapters in Birmingham, Alabama; Venice, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Orlando Florida and Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada have been told that their programs should stop or move out of sight. The crisis of war and poverty has never been so bad and efforts to find solutions to these urgent problems should be supported more than ever. Over 2,500 soldiers have died in Iraq and tens of thousands of our veterans are living in America"s streets yet these four city governments are spending their money and time trying to silence the very group that is feeding the hungry and working for peace. Please let each Food Not Bombs group know that you support their right to share food and literature and consider organizing a protest in your community. This type of solidarity was effective in ending the campaign of police violence against San Francisco Food Not Bombs in the 80's and 90's. The city of San Francisco spent more than a million dollars and the group is still busy feeding the hungry and working for peace.
The Orlando city council passed the first reading of the ordinance 5-2. A final vote is expected on July 10, 2006. Please email the city council.
Eola homeless meals banned. Orlando Sentinel
Another U.S. City Outlaws Feeding Homeless People
Mayor Buddy Dyer supported the ordinance.
Last week, Las Vegas outlawed feeding homeless people at city parks. Now, Orlando is following suit. Orlando is trying to keep charitable groups from feeding the homeless in downtown parks. Officials said transients gathering for weekly meals create safety and sanitary problems for businesses.
The City Council voted to prohibit serving meals to groups of 25 or more people in parks and other public property within two miles of City Hall without a special permit. A group called Food Not Bombs, which has served weekly vegetarian meals for the homeless for more than a year, said it will continue illegally. The American Civil Liberties Union vows to sue, saying it"s a superficial fix that ignores the city's homeless problem.
Two of the city's five commissioners voted against the ordinance, including Commissioners Robert Stuart, who runs the homeless shelter Christian Service Center, and Sam Ings, a retired police officer. Stuart told The Orlando Sentinel that Orlando is taking a step to 'criminalize good-hearted people' who he says are trying to help. He went on to tell the paper that group feedings in the parks had not become unwieldy to the city, as some had claimed. He said the ordinance says, 'Orlando doesn't care,' the Sentinel reported. Ings said that although the commissioners are casting the ordinance as a public-safety issue, it is really an issue of the city wanting to 'cover up' the homeless problem. "We're putting a Band-Aid on a critical problem," he said. The commissioner who pushed for the ordinance, Patty Sheehan, said it was not an 'easy day' for her at all. She said the new ordinance against feeding homeless people has been 'wrongly cast' as anti-homeless. 'I've been an advocate [for the homeless],' she said. 'Even though you"ll call me an enemy, I"ll still be your friend." The Sentinel reported that about a dozen downtown residents and business owners spoke in favor of the rule. But more than three times that amount of people spoke against it. There were 45 speakers from various groups, including a formal declaration from the University of Central Florida's student senate, who opposed outlawing feeding homeless people. Mayor Buddy Dyer supported the ordinance. Food Not Bombs said on its Web site that chapters in Venice, Calif.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Orlando, and Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada have been told that their programs should stop or move out of sight.
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Food Not Bombs Activists Arrested In Philippines
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