CITY OF ORLANDO SEEKS TO MAKE IT A CRIME TO SHARE FOOD
WITH HUNGRY POOR AND HOMELESS PEOPLE IN DOWNTOWN
ORLANDO

On Monday, June 19 the Orlando City Council will vote
on a proposed ordinance (amending Chapter 18A [Parks
and Outdoor Public Assemblies] of the code of the City
of Orlando), that if passed, would effectively stop
Orlando Food Not Bombs from doing its weekly sharings
of food at Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando. Orlando
Food Not Bombs is one of hundreds of autonomous
chapters of a 25-year-old international movement of
people who gather up food that would otherwise go to
waste, turn it into hot, nutritious vegetarian and
vegan meals, and share it with hungry people in public
spaces. The ordinance, which is the brainchild of
Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, would define
"large group feedings" as being 15 or more people
(Orlando Food Not Bombs typically shares with 50-75
people), and would require that groups that wish to
share free food with people in public parks downtown
pay for a permit from the city's parks department. The
ordinance, however, also stipulates that a group will
only be allowed two permits in any twelve-month
period, which would effectively stop Orlando Food Not
Bombs from sharing at the location it has used for
more than a year, since the group shares every week
(Wednesdays, 5 p.m.) year-round. Orlando Food Not
Bombs is not the only local group that shares food
downtown; it is, however, the only group that
regularly shares at Lake Eola Park, and while the
group is not mentioned by name in the ordinance, it's
clear that it was written to target our group for the
"crime" of sharing food and for challenging power,
privilege and poverty.

Downtown developers, business interests, police and
Commissioner Sheehan's aide, Chase Smith, have seen
fit to scapegoat Orlando Food Not Bombs for
"attracting" homeless people to the Thornton park
area, which they claim is the cause of certain
problems. (Although not all of the people with whom we
share are homeless; some are just people having a hard
time making ends meet on low-wage jobs; and even many
of the homeless work jobs obtained through day labor
pools; unfortunately, those jobs don't pay them enough
to be able to get off the streets). They don't seem to
understand that even without Food Not Bombs' sharings
there would still be homeless people in downtown
Orlando, including rapidly gentrifying areas around
Lake Eola and Thornton Park--areas full of expensive
condos, and trendy restaurants, bars and shops
(apparently one purpose of the proposed ordinance is
to spare affluent white middle-class and upper
middle-class people from being discomforted by the
sight of people far less fortunate than they are).
Homeless people are just like anyone else, they like
the pleasant surroundings of a lake and greenery along
with comfortable benches on which to sit.

The only concrete result of the proposed ordinance
would be to deprive hungry, often homeless people of
food and to make their already difficult and miserable
lives more difficult and more miserable. The new
ordinance will not be any more successful at keeping
the homeless out of downtown than harassment by the
Orlando Police Department, "begging zones" or any
other measure the City of Orlando has tried over the
years to drive the homeless out of Orlando and into
some other community where they will become someone
else's "problem." Nor will the ordinance do anything
to address any of the crime, quality of life or
aesthetic concerns that have been mentioned to
rationalize it. If anything the homeless are more
likely to resort to petty crimes, such as shoplifting
or theft, in order to obtain food or money for food,
if the City stops them from getting meals from Food
Not Bombs. When people are hungry and desperate, legal
and ethical considerations are not foremost in their
minds.

No one in Food Not Bombs wishes to romanticize the
homeless or to claim that they are all victims of an
uncaring society or callous capitalism (although those
factors along with just plain bad luck do indeed
explain why a certain portion of people are homeless).
Whatever the reasons that people with whom we share
may be homeless, we in Food Not Bombs firmly believe
that Food Is A Right, Not A Privilege. We feel that no
one should go hungry, especially not in a society such
as ours which is characterized by obscene wealth
(along with glaring disparities in wealth) and that
wastes so much perfectly good, edible food (some of
which Food Not Bombs reclaims) despite the fact that
several million people on a daily basis don't have
enough to eat. We believe that everyone, whatever
their station in life, is entitled to respect, dignity
and compassion simply because they're human. Just
because you're poor, homeless or having some
difficulties in life that have made you less than
affluent doesn't mean that you deserve to be shunted
off to the side, treated like a second-class citizen
by the authorities and made to feel unwelcome by a
community.

We feel that everyone is entitled to use public
amenities, such as city parks, including that segment
of the public that some may view as undesirable
because of their dismal economic circumstances. We
also feel that we in Food Not Bombs, who also are part
of the public, have the right to use public parks to
share food with other members of the public, and we
reject as misleading and malicious any contentions
that our doing so is any way interfering with the
ability of anyone else to use the park. Such claims
are part of the broader pattern of city officials and
downtown residents and business owners, who look down
their noses at anyone who isn't an affluent yuppie,
making false claims in order to justify their
snobbishness and lack of compassion and understanding.
We reject the idea that we, as members of the public,
should have to ask permission of bureaucrats and pay
for the privilege of using a park, that by virtue of
our being members of the public, already belongs to
us.

If you agree with us and wish to support Orlando Food
Not Bombs in its efforts to continue to be able to
share food with people in downtown Orlando, please
call, e-mail or fax the Mayor and City Commissioners
or their aides to express your opposition to the
ordinance that would amend Chapter 18A (Parks and
Outdoor Public Assemblies) of the code of the City of
Orlando.

Mayor Buddy Dyer
buddy.dyer@cityoforlando.net
Fax: 407-246-2842
Phone: 407-246-2221
Chief of Staff: Cheryl Henry
407-246-2221

Comissioner District 1 Phil Diamond
phil.diamond@cityofcrlando.net
407-246-2001
Aide: Sandy Johnson 407-246-3011

Comissioner District 2 Betty Wyman
bwyman@cityofcrlando.net
407-246-2002
Aide: Dona Patrick
407-246-2899

Comissioner District 3 Robert Stuart
Robert.Stuart@cityoforlando.net
407-246-2003
Aide: Monica Mesa
407-246-4059

Comissioner District 4 Patty Sheehan
Patty.Sheehan@cityoforlando.net
407-246-2004
Aide: Chase Smith
407-246-2106

Comissioner District 5 Daisy Lynum
Daisy.Lynum@cityoforlando.net
407-246-2005
Aide: Marcia Davis
407-246-3014

District 6 Samuel Ings
Samuel.Ings@cityoforlando.net
407-246-2006
Aide: Cynthia Wilson
407-246-3016