Commissioner McKinzie Really Doesn't Like The Sistrunk Sharing

Last year, the Sistrunk Sharing was created as a synthesis between Food Not Bombs and Black Lives Matter activists. On the first Wednesday of every month, the sharing takes place at Lincoln Park on Sistrunk Avenue, and usually has some vegan and vegetarian breakfast foods, baked goods, juice, coffee, etc.

Much like Stranahan Park, the Sistrunk area has its own issues over what classes are best served and where. And so for the 2nd time this year, Commissioner Bob McKinzie dropped by the Sistrunk Sharing to let people know that he wasn't happy about us being there.

McKinzie and the rest of the City Commission

"We don't want this here." He then went on to let everyone know they were illegally parked.

This attitude towards food sharings from the Fort Lauderdale City Commission is not exactly news worthy. Yet it is quite rare that one of them would feel the need to come to the sharings in person, not once but twice, to express this.

McKinzie, for anyone keeping track, was appointed to replace Bobby Dubose during the sharing ban controversy, and so far has mostly distinguished himself as being perhaps the most overtly nepotistic Commissioner in the City. You can read, among other things, about McKinzie's cozy arrangement with the new caretakers of the troubled "Fort Lauderdale Chronic Homeless Housing Collaborative" here. He's also recently run into trouble for taking illegal campaign contributions from another long-time frenemy of the homeless advocacy community, the Downtown Development Authority. McKinzie is also one of the only City Commissioners who is not term-limited to 2018.

Sistrunk Sharing September 7th, 2016

For anyone even mildly curious, sharing food in the City of Fort Lauderdale in a public park is still quite legal. Despite the millions of dollars going into the Sistrunk area, things aren't changing that much for the community. It seems like we need more things like the Sistrunk Sharing and less things like politicians that serve the whims of corporate and developer interests.