Proposed camping ban criminalizes homeless

The city of Fort Lauderdale, apparently not content with two black eyes in its recent past for abusing our struggling neighbors who happen to be homeless, has embarked on yet one more sojourn down the well-worn path of violating their constitutional rights.

A new camping ban, this time ostensibly to protect the children from seeing homeless folk — and who, at least on the surface, can argue with “protecting the kids” — was unanimously approved last Tuesday by a mayor and city commission laden with misinformation and odious opinions which demonize the most vulnerable people in the community.

If approved on second reading at its next meeting on March 17, not only will they be forbidden from sleeping in the downtown area, as is already the case, but also within 1,000 feet of any school or child care center.

With no more eyes to bruise, and a profound failure of memory, or is that morals, at work, we’ll just have to chalk up this new proposal to another form of malady with apologies to the rock band

Third Eye Blind.

The city is moving forward against the backdrop of its own odious history.

In 2014, attorneys for homeless activist Arnold Abbott, who passed away last year, challenged a new city ordinance against sharing food with the homeless, and the city stopped enforcing it, in part because of the universal condemnation. Meanwhile, a still unresolved federal lawsuit from the same period filed by human rights group Food Not Bombs will likely wind up costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to an attorney working for the group. And who could forget the 10 homeless people whose belongings were destroyed by the city of Fort Lauderdale in 2017 and were later awarded $40,000 as part of a lawsuit settlement.

The legal precedent is essential. Close to home the landmark Pottinger v. Miami settlement agreement has defined best practices for not criminalizing homelessness throughout the southeastern U.S. and beyond. Despite a federal judge having terminated the agreement last year, the law’s provision that nobody can be cited or arrested for camping when shelters are full still stands. That ruling is also presently on appeal at the U.S. Eleventh Circuit and stands a good chance of being overturned.

Fort Lauderdale and countless other cities have respected that policy and haven’t arrested or cited people for camping downtown since it passed its first camping ban in 2014. That is, until this year, a fact that even Rick Maglione, the chief of police, is unaware of.

During Tuesday’s commission meeting City Manager Chris Lagerbloom questioned the chief as to how many people have been cited or arrested under the current ordinance. “Zero,” responded Maglione.

But Fort Lauderdale community court dockets show that at least four individuals have been charged with violating “Camping Prohibited within the Downtown” since January, three in Esplanade Park on SW 2nd Street and one at 100 S. Andrews Avenue.

City Attorney Alain Boileau, who reiterated the policy of no arrests when shelters are full at Tuesday night’s meeting, should withdraw the charges.

This raises a key question regarding the new law. Since the shelters are at capacity every night, why is the city talking about citing or arresting people whose only option is to sleep on the street?

Also, two months ago the U.S. Supreme Court rejected hearing an appeal of the U.S. Ninth Circuit’s judgment in Martin v. Boise that citing or arresting people when shelters are unavailable violates the Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Beyond the law, the bigger question is how do we define our humanity? As a homeless advocate for more than 10 years, I have often seen mothers, fathers, even entire church groups taking their kids with them to share food or give various handouts to street folk. These people move me, and I applaud them for teaching compassion and acting on it. They know that homeless folk are not in those dire straits by choice.

But this camping ban is saying that even the sight of homeless folk might damage little Johnny’s psyche. Its goal is to shield our kids from the truth: That 40 years of failed housing policy has allowed private developers to decide what housing gets built, and it’s rarely the affordable kind. All with the blessings of politicians at every level of government.

Do we really want to be teaching our kids to fear and hate people who are struggling to survive, the majority of whom are desperate for a home with four walls and a roof ?

Fort Lauderdale gets to make that decision on March 17. If it still has a shred of a soul left, here’s its chance to save it.

Do we really want to be teaching our kids to fear and hate people who are struggling to survive, the majority of whom are desperate for a home with four walls and a roof ?