Last Chance to Stop Fort Lauderdale Sharing Ban

The 2nd hearing at the Fort Lauderdale City Commission will take place Tuesday, October 21st. Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs, Love Thy Neighbor, and The Peanut Butter & Jelly Project will be sharing food outside starting at 5:30, and the meeting starts at 6 pm. 

To say nothing of the City Commissioner's apathetic ears, the first hearing on this law did not take place until 2 am last time. We encourage those that are opposed to the law to join  homeless advocates for some dinner and discussion on what is to be done outside, and to participate with the Commission at their own discretion. It would be perhaps a little naive at this point to say that anyone inside is willing to listen to the harmful consequences of their actions. 

If the law passes, the first day of enforcement for the sharing ban will be Halloween. We will be sure to keep everyone updated about what is going to happen then. 

The Resist Homeless Hate  Laws Forum also took place on Saturday. The Unitarian of Universalist Church of Fort Lauderdale made for a much more hospitable platform for a free discussion between homeless people, homeless advocates, legal experts, interfaith and political activists than the City Chambers. 

Besides a determined moral opposition to homeless discrimination, many advocates talked about progressive strategies to help poverty stricken people in our communities, including bolstering "homeless rights" laws, creating legal challenges to anti-homeless laws, and expanding services to the homeless community. There were many religious and political perspectives that envisioned a society whose first focus is for the human rights of these people above many of the wasteful ways our governments wastes its resources today. We can only hope this is a beginning on that path.

We will actually have a lot more about the proposals and ideas talked about at this forum for everyone shortly, but first comes this last City Commission meeting...