In 2006, the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty named Sarasota, Florida the meanest city for the homeless. The ordinance that placed them on that list is one that bans sleeping outside overnight on public or private property.
Michael Stoops, acting director of the National Coalition for the Homeless told USA Today,
?They could have been taken off the mean list if they would have just done away with that ordinance.?
However, Tom Rebman of Homeless and Hungry spent several days in Sarasota and in his opinion it is no longer the meanest city. He suggests that Sarasota has made changes in their strategy and would likely not qualify for the meanest list if reevaluated.
?Sarasota is no longer the meanest city because I witnessed numerous police officers act only with empathy. The homeless feel the police are there to help them, not hunt them, unlike in Daytona.?
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Over the last few months, changes have been taking place in Sarasota, including a specific task force within the police department to work a more empathetic approach with the needy in the city.
Tom says the key to solving homelessness rest in three tenants:
- Grow Public Awareness through campaigns to ?bust the myths about homelessness.?
- Create a single point of entry for homeless services for accurate data collection.
- Appoint a dedicated person within the city that would be responsible for cities and counties working together to build business community support and collaboration.
In just a few days, on December 17th, Daytona city commissioners will vote to renew a contact with Robert Marbut, also known as Dr. Tough Love. Marbut was paid $50,000 on the first six-month contract and the tough love consultant is seeking a 1-year renewal for $100,000. This is the same consultant that was hired in Sarasota, where “tough love” ordinances landed the city?on the mean list.
Alternet?s Diane Nilan wrote an article about Dr. Marbut in July of 2013, citing his misery-enhancing practices, which include things like homeless feeding bans, public sleeping bans, shelter night caps, panhandling bans, and other ?engaging, not enabling? tactics (according to him).?? Per his website, Marbut has provided services to clients like Fresno, Key West, and Sarasota, just to name a few.
This must be where Key West’s city commissioner, Tony Yanz, came up with the idea to tell a local soup kitchen,
??What we’ve got to do is quit making it cozy . . . let’s not feed them anymore.?
Daytona could hire a full-time position for the amount they are prepared to pay this former homelessness advisor for President George H.W. Bush’s administration.. Unfortunately, if the city commissioners vote in favor of this renewal, it sounds as though it will be more of the same dehumanizing criminalization in the World’s Most Famous Beach.
Yeah, that’s pretty mean. Perhaps Tom is right and Sarasota should pass the mean crown over to a fellow Florida beach city.
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Elizabeth Preston is a thirty-something wife and mother of three living in Florida. She is a fierce liberal with a passion?for equality and justice. She is a skeptic by nature and often the Facebook friend that rains on the urban legend parade with fact checking. Give her?Facebook page?a?like, follow her on?Twitter?and check out her personal blog,?My Four Ha? Pennies.
