Houston to refile cases against volunteers feeding the homeless
www.chron.com
The quarrel between Houston city officials and Food Not Bombs continues.

Cases against volunteers with Food Not Bombs were dismissed on Thursday, but the city attorney said he intends to press the issue.

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
    23·
    1 year ago

    Are they blocking an entrance or something? You’d think the city would set up a location for them to do their thing if it’s such a “nuisance”.

      • reddig33@lemmy.world
        1720·
        1 year ago

        Those regulations don’t sound egregious to me:

        • if you’re going to feed more than five people at a time, ask for a permit and attend our seminar so we can advise you how to do it safely and meet health code
        • if you’re going to do it on public property, do it at the site we’ve set up for this purpose
        • if you’re going to do it on private property, go for it after you get permission from the property owner

        Instead, the people who got in trouble set up a food truck at a public library.

        • 1024_Kibibytes@lemm.ee
          29·
          1 year ago

          if you’re going to do it on public property, do it at the site we’ve set up for this purpose

          From what I’ve seen when this was first posted on Lemmy, “the site we’ve set up for this purpose” was the former police headquarters. A lot of people, especially not rich people living unhoused, might not want to go onto police property, especially in a city like Houston.

          • reddig33@lemmy.world
            15·
            1 year ago

            That’s an excellent point. It does surprise me that there’s only one designated public location. Houston is a huge place. You’d think there would be one in each district at very least.

            • chuckleslord@ttrpg.network
              8·
              1 year ago

              …the point of the law is to stop people feeding the homeless. In their fucked up minds, if they make the city inhospitable to the people without money or resources, they’ll leave. Ignoring the fact that they don’t have the resources to do that. So it’s basically a “if you’re homeless, die quickly” law.

          • Vent@lemm.ee
            12·
            1 year ago

            Seminar sounds like the city can make it difficult by not offering it or charging some ridiculous price. Other than that, finding a business to let you use their parking lot once a week doesn’t sound that difficult. People do it all the time.

    • Drusas@kbin.social
      5·
      1 year ago

      The city has had an ordinance restricting how volunteers can feed people since 2012, but it’s gone largely unenforced until recently, The Houston’s Chronicle’s R.A. Schuetz wrote. The rule stipulates that a person must obtain permission from a property owner before providing food to groups larger than five.