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Home Van Newsletter - 7/10/09
THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS
Tent City residents are now facing eviction number 3 - all in about the course of a month. A number of people moved into nonposted woods that are further down on the Rails to Trails bike path. This land is owned by the Almond Oil Company, and they have requested that GPD evict the residents. The tent city area is near places that the residents need. They can walk to the bus station to get water and use the restroom. They can walk to St. Francis House, the downtown plaza, the library. Forcing them further and further away, into smaller and smaller groups, is life-threatening.
During the first eviction of Tent City Elizabeth, our pet care coordinator, saw a scene that says it all. She looked down the dirt trail to see a man walking out of the woods carrying another man on his back, and in front of them a man pushing a wheelchair.
This is not a picture from the Amnesty International Homepage - this is Gainesville.
These medically frail people care for one another.
How can they do that if they have to live far apart from each other, far away from sources of water and food?
In 15 years of working as a volunteer in the homeless community, I have known only a handful of people who made it past the age of 60. Can we have any doubt that the City of Gainesville is actively pursuing policies that are killing homeless people?
Commissioner Donovon's repeated appeals that the City Commission declare a state of emergency and open a tempororary, legal tent city where people can go between now and the opening of the One Stop Center is met with - in my opinion - a bunch of hooie about zoning regulations and FEMA requirements. When did we turn into a city that considers zoning regulations more important than human life?
The city could, by voice vote, lift the 130-person meal limit at St. Francis House. Since this limit was imposed I have literally found people on my doorstep, in tears, because they are so hungry.
Ken McGurn has made a very real threat to sue the city if they change the meal limit, and Codes Enforcement sends people to St. Francis House to count how many people are admitted to eat lunch. It would take a little courage for the city to lift the meal limit. Dear God, may our city commissioners find within themselves the courage our homeless and hungry people need for them to have.
Love, arupa
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The Home Van needs tents, tarps, bottled water, Vienna sausages, creamy peanut butter, jelly, candles, prayers and money. Call 352-372-4825 to arrange for dropoff. All financial donations to the Home Van should be made out to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, earmarked for the Home Van, and mailed to 307 SE 6th Street, Gainesville, Florida 32601. Donations are tax-deductible.
Tent City residents are now facing eviction number 3 - all in about the course of a month. A number of people moved into nonposted woods that are further down on the Rails to Trails bike path. This land is owned by the Almond Oil Company, and they have requested that GPD evict the residents. The tent city area is near places that the residents need. They can walk to the bus station to get water and use the restroom. They can walk to St. Francis House, the downtown plaza, the library. Forcing them further and further away, into smaller and smaller groups, is life-threatening.
During the first eviction of Tent City Elizabeth, our pet care coordinator, saw a scene that says it all. She looked down the dirt trail to see a man walking out of the woods carrying another man on his back, and in front of them a man pushing a wheelchair.
This is not a picture from the Amnesty International Homepage - this is Gainesville.
These medically frail people care for one another.
How can they do that if they have to live far apart from each other, far away from sources of water and food?
In 15 years of working as a volunteer in the homeless community, I have known only a handful of people who made it past the age of 60. Can we have any doubt that the City of Gainesville is actively pursuing policies that are killing homeless people?
Commissioner Donovon's repeated appeals that the City Commission declare a state of emergency and open a tempororary, legal tent city where people can go between now and the opening of the One Stop Center is met with - in my opinion - a bunch of hooie about zoning regulations and FEMA requirements. When did we turn into a city that considers zoning regulations more important than human life?
The city could, by voice vote, lift the 130-person meal limit at St. Francis House. Since this limit was imposed I have literally found people on my doorstep, in tears, because they are so hungry.
Ken McGurn has made a very real threat to sue the city if they change the meal limit, and Codes Enforcement sends people to St. Francis House to count how many people are admitted to eat lunch. It would take a little courage for the city to lift the meal limit. Dear God, may our city commissioners find within themselves the courage our homeless and hungry people need for them to have.
Love, arupa
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Home Van needs tents, tarps, bottled water, Vienna sausages, creamy peanut butter, jelly, candles, prayers and money. Call 352-372-4825 to arrange for dropoff. All financial donations to the Home Van should be made out to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, earmarked for the Home Van, and mailed to 307 SE 6th Street, Gainesville, Florida 32601. Donations are tax-deductible.
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