Cities all over the country have been struggling for years to find the best approach to helping homeless people while improving the general quality of life, particularly in downtown areas.
Just witness what Billings has been trying to do. Then there is Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where an ordinance basically banning the sharing of food in public took effect last week. As a result, police have arrested three men—two pastors and a 90-year-old Good Samaritan—for feeding homeless people.
If convicted of the “crime,” the men could be fined up to $500 and sentenced to jail for 60 days. Here’s the money quote:
“One of the police officers said, ‘Drop that plate right now,’ as if I were carrying a weapon,” said Abbott, who runs a nonprofit group called Love Thy Neighbor, Inc. “It’s man’s inhumanity to man is all it is.”
