Tag: homelessness

Innocent Grandma Arrested, Brought to Jail for Feeding the Homeless

In a logical and reasonable world, acts of kindness should be spotlighted and celebrated. Those carrying them out should be praised and their actions should set an example for all to follow. Unfortunately, however, we do not live in a reasonable world and acts of kindness are oftentimes met with force, loss of freedom, and sheer tyranny — just ask 78-year-old Norma Thornton.

For much of her life, Norma has been dedicating her time to helping those in need. As she moved from city to city throughout her 78 years on Earth, Norma would befriend the homeless population in each town and feed them. She cooks homemade meals, cleans their laundry, helps them connect with social services, and more.

For decades, Norma has improved the lives of countless individuals who have found themselves down on their luck. But when she got to Bullhead City, Ariz., all that changed. Because Bullhead City officials are not reasonable, Norma was kidnapped by armed agents of the state and threatened with being thrown in a cage — for giving hungry people food.

In Bullhead City, tyrannical officials have deemed it a criminal misdemeanor—punishable by fines and even imprisonment—to share prepared food in a public park “for charitable purposes.”

Highlighting the sheer lack of reason and logic is the “charitable purposes” portion of this ordinance. Norma could invite 150 of her friends and relatives to the park, cook for them, and feed them all and she wouldn’t be in violation of any law. But if those friends are homeless, the act becomes charitable, and therefore illegal.

Luckily, the folks with Institute for Justice have taken up Norma’s case and they are suing the city over this cruel and inhumane law.

Keep reading

Panel rules against church leaders who gave bologna sandwiches to homeless

The city of St. Louis did not violate the First Amendment rights of a Christian pastor and his assistant by threatening to prosecute them for handing out bologna sandwiches to the homeless, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Pastor Raymond Redlich, vice president of the New Life Christian Evangelical Center, and his assistant, Christopher Ohnimus, were distributing bologna sandwiches and bottles of water to the homeless in October 2018 when they were cited by a police officer for violating a city ordinance regulating the distribution by temporary establishments of potentially hazardous food, such as meat, poultry, eggs or fish.

Although the city opted not to prosecute Redlich and Ohnimus for violating the ordinance, they nonetheless sued the city in federal court saying the ordinance violates their rights of free expression and religious exercise under the First Amendment.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nanette A. Baker in St. Louis granted the city’s motion to dismiss the complaint on summary judgment last year, finding Redlich and Ohnimus did not prove that their fundamental right to association was at issue.

The two men appealed that ruling to the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit, arguing at a hearing in June that the enforcement of the ordinance against them interferes with their ability to communicate their message about God’s love and concern for those in need.

In Wednesday’s ruling, a three-judge panel ruled government regulation of “inherently expressive” conduct – such as distributing sandwiches to the homeless – does not necessarily violate the First Amendment if the regulation furthers “an important or substantial government interest” unrelated to the suppression of free expression.

Keep reading

Homeless getting kicked out of shelters to make room for illegal immigrants in Eric Adams’ NYC

Multiple sources in the Bronx have alleged that New York’s homeless are being kicked out of shelters to make room for the illegal immigrants making their way to New York City. 

“I’ve seen a high traffic of immigrants who are seeking political asylum overcrowding these shelters,” a high level Bronx community leader who wished to remain anonymous shared, “our local citizens who have been in these shelters for over 2 years have been kicked out and are sleeping in the streets and not getting the resources they need.”

She went on to share that the homeless population has “increased tremendously” sharing that they are now camping out in the train stations, buses, churches or squatting illegally in front of people’s homes. 

Donnie “Kayborn” Rivers, who has run a nonprofit in the Bronx for the past seven years, had a similar story to tell. “You go to the train and there’s a lot of people sleeping on the train too..and i really feel that a lot of that is happening because of the people that’s coming, the immigrants that’s coming,” he said.

He further went on to detail how not only have the homeless population been overlooked by the city, but Mayor Eric Adams was quick to invest time, money and resources for the influx of illegal immigrants making their way to New York.

“The mayor just finished opening up a whole encampment up in Orchard Beach where they’re housing people from another country,” Rivers shared, “but our people still sleeping on the train and still sleeping outside.” 

Adams, who invested 150 million dollars into the project, has since scrapped building the camps in the parking of Orchard Beach due to safety concerns. 

Residents of the Bronx on Monday, organized a press conference calling out the humanitarian and safety concerns of building the camps in this location. 

“It’s inhumane, it’s dangerous and it was not well thought out. I don’t think Mayor Adams even came to look at the site before doing it,” one resident stated, “Did he see that there was a playground there and just didn’t care?” she asked, pointing to the child’s playground located in the same parking lot as the camp.

Keep reading

Lakewood cut down Town Square trees to deter homeless

The township cut down all of the shade trees that once lined Town Square in a controversial move designed to prevent homeless people from spending time there.

Mayor Ray Coles said the decision was made after a recommendation from the Police Department Quality of Life Unit, which the township said was triggered by numerous complaints from residents and township employees about homeless people defecating and urinating in the area.

“They (homeless people) were harassing people, defecating between the cars and residents were complaining,” Coles said.

Claudia Romero, who works in a tax preparation company across from the Town Square, said that one day she found human feces on the sidewalk in front of her office and then submitted a complaint to the township. The township did not say how many complaints it received.

Keep reading

Miami proposes relocating city’s homeless to island near sewage plant

Miami may relocate some of the city’s homeless population out of the streets and into city-sponsored encampments on an island housing a wastewater treatment plant.

Earlier this year, Miami-Dade’s Board of County Commissioners asked city officials to come up with ideas to mitigate its homeless population in the city, according to the Daily Mail.

City Manager Art Noriega called for an encampment to be established on the northern region of the Virginia Key island, one of five locations being discussed, beside a sewage treatment plant and a biking trail. The other four possible locations as options include three parking lots, two of which are located near residential buildings.

The city is considering the proposal that would relocate homeless people, which was recently recorded at 1,525 people, who live on the street in heavily populated tourist areas, like downtown, Overtown, and Little Havana.

The proposal details a plan to establish as many as nine large tents, which can hold up to 22 people, and a parking lot in the northernmost region of the Virginia Key.

Keep reading

Charity Builds Dozens of Tiny Homes for Homeless on PRIVATE PROPERTY, Cops & Gov’t Destroy All Of It

In 2020, The Free Thought Project reported on the work of two groups, Food Not Bombs and the Sidewalk Project, who raised $16,000 and built 26 tiny homes in Las Vegas for the city’s homeless community. It was an amazing feat put together by a handful of caring people trying to better their community but it came to a chaotic and destructive end when police and city officials raided the camp and destroyed all the homes.

The City of Las Vegas claimed that the destruction of the homes was justified as the city maintains “this right of way for NDOT, the property owner.” Joey Lankowski, who does homeless outreach with Food Not Bombs, sought to remedy this problem of building tiny homes on public property by raising money to purchase their own swath of land on private property.

Since last year, members of Food Not Bombs, the Sidewalk Project, and the New Leaf Community have been working tirelessly, volunteering countless hours of their personal time, to build a community of tiny homes on this newly owned piece of property.

For months volunteers built the tiny homes and allowed the community’s houseless population to live on the property. The community was thriving until earlier this year when the bureaucratic police state set their sights on the project’s private property.

The code enforcement division of the Las Vegas city government claimed that the property was in violation of zoning ordinance NLVMC 17.20.10 which states that the “accessory uses are not permitted” on the private property. According to the notice, a single family residence must be on the property before the tiny homes could be built and heavy fines would follow if they did not get “up to code.”

Since then, the city has waged an immoral war against the tiny home community and levied even more seemingly frivolous ordinance violations.

Keep reading

Seattle Cleared Out Two Homeless Encampments to Prepare for Joe Biden’s Visit

The city of Seattle cleared out two homeless encampments in preparation for Joe Biden’s visit.

Approximately 15 homeless people were displaced by Democrat Mayor Bruce Harrell to make sure the area looked nice for the president on his Earth Day visit.

Jamie Housen, spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told the Seattle Times that the encampments were cleared “so that the city could close the streets and limit access to sidewalks to ensure the safety of the president.”

The homeless people were given two days to move their belongings or have them trashed by Seattle Parks and Recreation.

“Housen said that nine tents and shelter structures were removed from Virginia Street to Olive Way between Sixth and Fifth avenues. Three people staying there left on their own and four others were referred to shelter by the city’s encampment outreach team,” the Seattle Times reported. “Four tents were removed between Lenora and Virginia streets, from Fifth Avenue to Fourth Avenue. Four people there left voluntarily and two others were referred to shelters.”

The city removed several other encampments as well, but claimed that those ones did not have anything to do with Biden’s visit.

Keep reading